Jim Rawlinson, a 68 year old surfer, got the ride of his life the other day off the coast of Hawaii. As he was riding in on a wave, he felt a sudden jerk at the back of his board that slightly lifted him into the air. As he slid backwards, he soon found himself straddling a huge tiger shark, which had mistaken his board for a bite to eat.

When Rawlinson realized his precarious situation, he kept his cool, riding the shark for a little way and then releasing his board leash from his ankle and gently sliding off it’s side into the water. After that, he found his board floating nearby and, remarkably, continued to surf for another 45 minutes with a giant bite taken out of his board.

A marine biologist was actually taking underwater footage just a few yards from where Rawlinson was surfing and saw the whole event. Apparently, there was a group of turtles that suddenly scattered right near his surf board. She thinks that the shark was going after a turtle and missed, grabbing a mouthful of surf board instead. Once it realized that it wasn’t dining on a tasty turtle, it let the board go. By the size of the bite mark in the surf board, she thinks that the shark was probably about 14 feet long.